The Plan:
Day 1: Grilled brats with sauerkraut, Grilled eggplant, fennel and basil
Day 2: Zucchini and corn fritters, Watermelon slices, Shiso iced tea
Day 3: Homemade pizza with Anaheim peppers, and onions
Day 4: Slow cooker pulled pork, Corn on the cob, Easy cucumber and tomato salad
Day 5: Vegetable curry with green beans, zucchini, and bell peppers
Day 6: Pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes, Shiso fruit salad (blueberries and peaches)
Day 7: Fridge dump! (needs a clean, everyone makes their own dinner with whatever needs to be eaten)
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Pork brats from meat share at Mastodon Valley Farm
Into Storage:
- Green beans (cut into 1 inch pieces and freeze in quart size zip top bag. I don’t blanch)
- Peaches (sliced and frozen in a single layer on cookies sheets then transferred to gallon zip top bags)
Notes: Tomato Season
As you know, I am a seasonal eater. That means I don’t eat fresh tomatoes once there is frost on the ground here in Wisconsin, usually October. Then I have to wait until the following August. That is about 10 months without this sweet, juicy, versatile fruit. So when the first tomatoes make an appearance in my CSA farm share, it is a big deal!
I’m telling you, fresh, local, seasonal tomatoes are soooo much better than the tasteless, mealy ones you will get that are shipped in from around the nation/Mexico all year long. Those sorry excuses for a tomato are not worthy of your money.
My first taste of the season is usually a plain tomato eaten like an apple. I just can’t resist! Then, one of my favorite ways to enjoy tomatoes is to make the Easy Cucumber and tomato salad that I have in my meal plan this week. After that I start adding them to everything. It is a frenzy of tomato cooking, eating, and preserving. Salsa, salads, soups, caprese, sauces, and so much more!
Tomatoes will also make it into my freezer in the form of diced, tomato soup, and homemade pasta sauce. That way I can still get a taste of them in the winter (not the same as fresh though!)
Go out and get yourself a fresh, locally grown tomato today!
CSA Breakdown:
For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. See the first CSA post from this season for details of how I structure the plans.
Fennel (1.0 bulb): Thinly sliced and grilled in grill pan with eggplant
Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (1.0 count): 1 for zucchini corn fritters, 1 for curry
Basil (1.0 bunch): a few leaves chopped and sprinkled over grilled eggplant and fennel, the resto made into pesto
Onion, Yellow Sweet (1.0 Unit): 1/4 sliced for pizza, 1/2 sliced for pulled pork, 1/4 sliced for tomato salad (slice it all at once!)
Shiso (1.0 bunch): shiso fruit salad, shiso tea
A2 Watermelon (1.0 count): sliced and served with fritters
Eggplant, Japanese (1.0 count): cut into cubes, drizzled with olive oil and salt and grill in a grill pan
Beans, Green (1.0 bag): I have extras from my garden too. Freeze a quart sized bag portion. Rest in curry.
Pepper, Anaheim (green, hot) (1.0 count): sliced for pizza (I remove the seeds so it is less spicy)
Garlic (1.0 count): put on my counter for use throughout the season.
Cucumber (1.0 count): easy cucumber tomato salad
Pepper, Green Bell (1.0 count): curry
A1 Corn, Sweet (some tips cut) (1.0 count): 3 zucchini corn fritters, 3 corn on the cob
